Massachusetts News

The Massachusetts economy expanded at more than double the rate of the national economy during the second quarter of the year, boosted by federal stimulus programs, demand for technology products and the strongest job growth since the so-called miracle years of the 1980s, the University of Massachusetts reported today.

The number of mosquito pools to test positive for eastern equine encephalitis has doubled, hitting 30, and lawmakers from Southeastern Massachusetts are pressing state officials to aerial-spray the affected areas.

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Six construction workers have been hurt - three seriously - in an explosion at a new Massachusetts development for people over 55.

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has reached a deal with the Cape Wind offshore wind energy project that she says will save consumers up to $465 million during the first 15 years of operation.

State legislators on Friday unveiled an economic-development bill that includes a sales tax holiday for Aug.

House and Senate negotiators moved Friday to resolve their dispute over expanded gambling in Massachusetts, sitting down to work out the details of a proposal calling for the addition of three casinos, plus two slot machine parlors bid upon by the state's four existing racetrack owners, three officials said.

A new law is aimed at expanding organ and tissue donations in Massachusetts. It establishes a fund that will accept public and private gifts, grants and donations to support donor registration.

We're happy Sen. John F. Kerry plans to pay Massachusetts nearly $500,000 in sales and excise taxes for the $7 million sloop Isabel that he bought in Rhode Island earlier this year.

Massachusetts has some of the biggest name colleges and universities in the country but, except for Harvard, few of the biggies ended up on the Chronicle of Higher Education's recent Great Colleges to Work For list.

Boston Herald Chief Enterprise Reporter Wedge is the Herald's Chief Enterprise Reporter and writes Sunday's "Pols & Politics" column.

Cartoonists from around the world are submitting works on the themes of freedom and the late Massachusetts Sen.

The Massachusetts court system is considering ending its lease with the old Hampshire County Courthouse on Main Street in Northampton as a cost-saving measure.

The State Retirement Board is weighing whether to appeal a court decision ordering it to resume pension payments to former Massachusetts House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi.

Deval Patrick called on them to approve a sales-tax holiday, Beacon Hill legislators seemed optimistic about the prospect of granting consumers and retailers the two-day August reprieve.

With a flourish of the governor's pen yesterday, much of the bookstore fare at Bridgewater State College became collectors' items.

Alternate headline: "Massachusetts disenfranchises self." Senate minority leader Richard Tisei said the state was meddling with a system that was "tried and true" since the founding of the country.

The Massachusetts State Legislature has approved a law that would award the state's electoral college votes to the winner of the national popular vote.

The Anti-Defamation League says its annual survey showed the number of anti-Semitic assaults, harassment and vandalism cases in Massachusetts increased slightly in 2009.

Senate leaders tried Wednesday to break a legislative logjam over a proposed gambling expansion in Massachusetts, offering two options to their House counterparts.